Effects of microgravity on the growth of Lepidium roots

The normal growth dynamics of plant roots is partly controlled by the gravitational force. In order to study the detailed growth behavior in absence of gravity, the growth of Lepidium sativum roots was recorded by time lapse photography at 1h intervals in a Spacelab ESA-experiment (IML-2). Plants were germinated and kept in microgravity during the experiments, while control roots were at 1 g with normal static gravistimulation. Extended image analyses allowed new information to be achieved about movements of all parts of the roots, extending earlier published results. Root contours were extracted from the images and divided into 0.6mm segments. Deviation angles were calculated for each root segment, both for the first 8-10 h (phase I) and for the last 6-8 h of the experiment (phase II). For phase I, the present analysis confirmed that the average square deviation increased linearly with time for roots in microgravity, while for roots under 1 g conditions it stayed constant. This was consistent with a random walk hypothesis for the bending pattern. In phase II, roots in microgravity stopped their spontaneous curvatures and showed more straight growth or even diminished the root curvatures that had occurred during phase I. Thus, the growth is distinctly different in the two phases and is thought to be controlled by autotropic reactions in phase II. Root hairs developed when the roots passed into phase II. During phase I, the root growth rates were equal in microgravity and on the ground (0.50 mm h-1 with SE 0.04 and 0.51 mm h-1 with SE 0.03, respectively). In phase II the growth rate on the ground was higher than in microgravity (1.44 mm h-1 with SE 0.10 and 1.07 mm h-1 with SE 0.04 in microgravity). Microgravity conditions, therefore, clearly affect Lepidium root growth: In phase I the bending pattern is random in contrast to the normal straight growth under 1g. In phase II the growth rate is reduced, as compared to the growth rate under 1 g.